Cabinet.



PATENTED SEPT. 1, 1903.

A. D. AOERS.

CABINET.

APPLIGATION FILED SEPT. 2, 1902.

N0 MODEL.

no. 738,09l.

v UNTTED STATES Patented September 1, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR DAVID AOERS, OF NORMAN, OKLAHOMA TERRITORY, 'ASSIGNOR TO AOERS-RENFROW CABINET COMPANY, OF NORMAN, OKLAHOMA TERRIT ORY.

CABINET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 738,091, dated September 1, 1903. Application filed September 2, 1902. Serial No. 121,870. (No model.)

To coZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR DAVID Aonns, a citizen of the United States, residing at Norman, in the county of Cleveland and Tor-- improve the construction of that class of cabinets having a plurality of pigeonholes or compartments and provided with a series of sliding doors adapted to be manipulated to expose only one of the compartments at a time and to afiord access to any one of the same and to enable the doors to slide more freely and to permit the same to be readily removed should any one become broken or otherwise injured.

A further object of the invention is to improve the construction of the means for looking the sliding doors against movement and to provide a simple, inexpensive, and efficient device which when arranged for permitting free movement of the sliding doors will not project beyond the cabinet and will not materially alter the appearance of the same, so that the cabinet at all times will present a complete or finished appearance.

A further object of the invention is to arrange such locking device within the cabinet to prevent the same from becoming broken or otherwise injured or from interfering with the placing of the cabinet contiguous to a wall or partition or other object.

The invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended.

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of a cabinet constructed in accordance with this invention, the sliding drawer being moved inward beyond the plane of the sliding doors. Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view of a portion of the cabinet, illustrating the arrangement of the removable end strip. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of a portion of the cabinet. Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view illustrating the construction and arrangement of the short drawer. Fig. 5 is a detail viewof one of the vertically-movable doors. Fig. 6 is a similar view of one of the horizontally-movable doors.

Like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

1 designates a cabinet provided with pigeonholes or compartments formed by vertical and horizontal partitions, and these pigeonholes or compartments may be constructed of any desired size and may be arranged in any desired manner to adapt the cabinet for any purpose for-Which this class of cabinets is employed. The pigeonholes or compartments are closed by means of vertically and horizontally movable doors 2 and 3 and a short drawer at, arranged in one of the compartments or pigeonholes and being of a length less than the length of a pigeonhole or compartment to enable it to be arranged in the same plane as the sliding doors, as illustrated in Fig. 4 of the accompanying drawings, to lock the cabinet and prevent the doors from being opened or manipulated to open a pigeonhole or compartment, and the said short drawer is adapted to be moved inward beyond the plane of the movable doors to permit the latter to slide in front of it, and thus afford a clearance-space.

In Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings the short drawer is arranged at the upper lefthand corner of the cabinet, and the sliding doors 2 in the end row are capable of vertical movement to afford a clearance-space opposite any one of the horizontal rows of sliding doors 3, and by manipulating the sliding doors in this manner any one of the compartments may be exposed, as will be readily apparent. Instead of arranging the sliding drawer at the upper left-hand corner of the cabinet it will be apparent that it may be placed in any other'desired position.

The short drawer l is provided with a suitable lock for securing it in the position illustrated in Fig. 4; of the drawings. The sliding doors and the short drawer present the same exterior appearance, and they may be finished in any desired manner, as will be readily understood, and when the said short drawer is moved inward to the position illustrated in Fig. 1 it does not materially affect the appearance of the cabinet, and it does not project beyond the cabinet and interfere with the arrangement of the same against a wall or other object, and it cannot become injured or broken off like a hinged door or similar closure.

The horizontally-sliding doors 3 are rabbeted at the inner faces of their upper edges toprovideoutwardly-offset projectingtongues 5, and their lower edges are rabbeted at their outer faces to provide inwardly-offset depending tongues 6. These tongues are offset from the center of the sliding doors to provide central bearing portions, and the friction incident to the sliding of the doors is greatly reduced, as the outer faces of the tongues are flush with the inner and outer faces of the sliding doors, and only their inner faces are formed by recessing or rabbeting the edges; also, by arranging the upper tongues flush with the outer faces of the horizontally-sliding doors any warping of the latter will not show itself at the tops of the doors, which will not become separated at those points from the parting-strips or partitions. The horizontally-sliding doors 3 are arranged in horizontal ways of the casing, and these ways consist of grooves 7 and 8, formed in the upper and lower faces of parting-strips, which may be formed integral with the horizontal partitions 9, as illustrated in Fig. 3 of the accompanying drawings, or be constructed of separate strips secured to the outer edges of the partitions.

The vertically-sliding doors 2 are rabbeted at the inner faces of their outer sides to form outwardly-offset tongues 10, and the inner side edges are recessed or rabbeted at the outer faces of the doors 2 to provide inwardlyoifset tongues 11, which fit in corresponding rabbets or recesses 12 of the adjacent vertical edges of the horizontally-sliding doors 3. A continuous vertical strip 13 is arranged parallel with and adjacent to the inner faces of the tongues 11 of the vertically-sliding doors 2 to prevent disengagement of said tongues from the rabbets 12 of the horizontally-sliding doors 3, said rabbets 12 and par allel strips 13 thus forming a vertical guide or way in which the side edges of the doors 2 are adapted to slide freely in their vertical movement.

The outer tongues 10 of the vertically-slid ing doors 2 are received within grooves 14: of a vertical strip 15, detachably secured by screws 16 or other suitable fastening devices in a recess or groove of the inner face of the left-hand end 17 of the cabinet and adapted to be detached to permit any or all of the sliding doors to be quickly removed from the cabinet to repair an injury or to supply a new door. or for any other purpose. The vertical strip 15 also presents smooth faces to the verticallymovable doors, and the latter are adapted to slide freely. The friction incident to the sliding of the vertically-movable doors is greatly decreased by the particular arrangement of the tongues 10 and 11, as the rough cross-grain incident to rabbets 01' recesses is formed at one face only of each tongue. The horizontal partitions are recessed or cut away at the left-hand end of the cabinet to provide the necessary space for the series of vertically-movable doors. The short drawer does not interfere with the arrangement of the removable vertically-disposed strip 15, as is the case when a swinging door is employed, since the swinging door must be hinged at the end of the cabinet to permit the necessary sliding movement of the doors.

It will be seen that the cabinet is simple and comparatively inexpensive in construc tion, that it is adapted to be employed for all the purposes for which cabinets are used, and that the short drawer forms an efficient looking device and may be readily arranged to prevent the sliding doors from moving, and

it will permit the same to be readily manipulated. It will also be clear that the short drawer is adapted to present the appearance of a sliding door and that the finished appearance of the cabinet is not materially affected when the short drawer is moved inward. Also it will be apparent that the sliding doors are permitted to move freely with a minimum amount of friction and that they may be quickly detached from the cabinetwhen desired.

In practice the verticallymovable doors will be provided with short horizontal strips arranged in alinement with the outer edges of the horizontal partitions 9 or parting-strips to complete the latter and enable the cabinet to present when closed a completed uniform appearance. 'These strips, however, have been omitted in the drawings in order to illustrate the construction and arrangement of the vertically and horizontally slidable doors more clearly.

What is claimed is- 1. A device of the class described comprising a cabinet or casing provided with-a series of pigeonholes or compartments, slidable doors closing the pigeonholes or compartments, and a drawer arranged in one of the pigeonholes or compartments and adapted to lie in the same plane as the sliding doors to lock the same against movement, said drawer being shorter than the pigeonhole or compartment, whereby it is adapted to be moved inward beyond the plane of the sliding doors to permit the latter to move freely, substantially as described.

2. A device of the class described comprising a cabinet or casing having pigeonholes or compartments and provided with horizontal ways consisting of grooves offset from each other, said casing or cabinetbeing also provided with a vertical Way, and slidable doors respectively mounted in the said vertical and horizontal ways, the horizontally slidable doors being provided with upper and lower tongues offset from each other and fitting in the said grooves, substantially as described.

3. A device of the class described comprising a cabinet or casing having horizontal ways consisting of upper and lower grooves oifset from each other, said casing or cabinet being also provided with a vertical way, and slidable doors mounted in said Ways, the horizontally-slidable doors being rabbeted at their inner and outer faces to form tongues to fit in the said grooves, substantially as described.

4. A device of the class described comprising a casing or cabinet provided with slidable doors and a short drawer capable of inward and outward movement to arrange it in the same plane as the sliding doors and to carry it inward beyond the same to afford a clearance-space to permit the doors to slide, substantially as described.

5. A device of the class described comprising a case or cabinet, horizontally-slidable doors, vertically-slidable doors located at one end of the case or cabinet, and a removable strip arranged at that end of the case or cabinet and forming a guide or way for the vertically-movable doors and adapted to be detached to permit the removal of the said doors, substantially as described.

6. A device of the class described comprising a casing or cabinet, horizontally-slidable doors mounted in rows, one of the end doors of each row being rabbeted at its inner face, vertically-slidable doors rabbeted at their side edges to provide offset tongues, the tongues at the inner edges of the vertically-movable doors being mounted in the rabbets of the adjacent horizontally-slidable doors, a continuous strip located within the casing or cabinet and forming a guide for the inner edges of the vertically-movable doors, and means for guiding the outer edges of the verticallymovable doors, substantially as described.

7. A device of the class described comprising a casing or cabinet, horizontally-slidable doors arranged in rows, one of the end doors of each row being rabbeted at its inner face, vertically-slidable doors rabbeted at their side edges to provide ofiset tongues, the tongues at the inner edges of the vertically-slidable doors being mounted in the rabbets of the adjacent horizontal doors, and a strip detachably secured to the easin g or cabinet and having a groove receiving the ton gues at the outer side edges of the verticallymovable doors, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ARTHUR DAVID AOERS.

\Vitnesses:

O. H. BESSENT, BERT BAGGETT. 

